Distant view of tilling a field in Pine Mountain valley; mountains & barn.[Photo: Arthur Dodd. nace_II_album_085.jpg]
ABOUT THE PINE MOUNTAIN SETTLEMENT SCHOOL COLLECTIONS
This growing digital record of the Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections offers an in-depth examination of the historical records of Pine Mountain Settlement School, its surrounding Appalachian communities, and associated materials in the School’s extensive archive.
Located in Harlan County, in the southeastern corner of Kentucky, the remote Settlement School was founded in 1913 by Katherine Pettit, Ethel de Long [Zande], and William Creech, with the support of other local families. The School was created to serve the educational and medical needs of the surrounding remote populations and followed the model of the then-popular Settlement Movement. Over the years, the programs at Pine Mountain Settlement grew to satisfy the earlier needs as well as a variety of other needs. Industrial training, educational outreach programs, medical clinics, Environmental Education programs for visiting schools, adult social service assistance, arts education programs, and farm and garden assistance are just a few of the community-focused programs the School has engaged in.
While Pine Mountain Settlement’s programming has flexed to meet the times, a central focus through the years has been on educational programming. Engaging a broader population and a more diverse programming to meet special needs and interests has led to a long history for the institution. Currently, popular requests for Chapel weddings, hosting conferences and musical events, blacksmithing, fly fishing, weaving, pottery workshops, and annual wild-flower and autumn retreats are just a few of the diverse offerings that supplement the strong educational outreach focus of the School.
The large Pine Mountain Settlement School digital archive provides access to much of the programming history and the many shifts to accommodate cultural change. Beginning in 2010 the digital archive now comprises over 2,900 + pages. It derives from the large on-site physical archive. The physical archive holds the history of the School’s evolution over the long 112 years of growth and change. Included in the archive are student records, worker biographies, visitors, publications, photographs, arts, crafts, books, institutional ledgers, live turtles and snakes, and other critters in the Environmental Studies lab. A large weaving room offers hands-on experiences for educational and craft programming as well as a rich body of weaving resources. The Native American artifacts collection is well documented, and insect collections are both “creepy” and astounding. An Industrial Kitchen offers classes in cooking, natural dyes, and an extensive seed study collection from the regional self-taught Botanist E.J. Carr. These varied archival records, the physical artifacts, the buildings, and the grounds, in fact, the whole physical institution with its remote natural beauty, are a living and lively learning environment and constitute the institution’s archive.
The in-depth archival records of students, staff, and visitors encompass the years from the School’s founding in 1913 to the present. Object collections of handmade furniture, pottery, medicinal plant collections, seed collections, farm tools, and experimental science and agricultural projects are well documented in the archival record and accessible for scholars online. Access to some original archival objects and records, and the document and photograph collections requires prior permission to view. Arrangements to use the archive of records and photographs may be made with the School’s office.
The long history of the School and the region is captured in its voluminous photograph collections. The digital files, while not comprehensive, are large and growing, and invite serious in-depth research. While quite large, the photographic holdings are largely online; however, only a fraction of the document material from the 1950s forward has been processed and still holds secrets, dissertations, and memories. The unprocessed materials are restricted until processed.
The extensive Photograph Collections (well over 70,000 photographs) provide a rich visual journey through the School’s history (1913-2025). The student populations of the Boarding School Years from 1913 to 1949 comprise the bulk of online materials. Our current digitization efforts strongly reflect the Boarding School years (1913-1949), while selectively drawing from the later (1950-present) programming. Later photographic collections are particularly rich in materials that visually describe the development of the ground-breaking Environmental Education Program that began in the early 1970s and that continues today.
Recognized by the National Register of Historic Places, the school’s physical buildings and site are a part of the archive. A full inventory of the built environment and its associated collection of architectural plans and material holdings is underway. Currently, the online archive selectively dives into important segments of the institution’s architectural history and its physical built environment. Online records also feature the institution’s principal architect, Mary Rockwell Hook, one of the first women architects in the United States. Records that have been deemed as important resources for research of the School’s built environment, as well as the built environment of the immediate community, have also been highlighted in digital offerings.
The extensive biographical records archive describes Pine Mountain Settlement School at its most intimate level —- through the voices of those who imagined it, built it, went to school there, worked there, and/or helped it evolve into this twenty-first century. The biographies include students, staff, community, visitors, and associated persons. Most of the digital biographies are provided in full text and with image access to photographs of individuals, families, associated documents, autobiographies, bibliographies, craft histories, building plans, writing, poetry, and much, much more.
An associated collection highlight is the E.J. Carr Plant Center, a large botanical collection, including his library, gathered by the self-taught botanist. Carr’s work explores edible and medicinal plants in Appalachia and their identification and related details, including the distribution of plant species in the region.
Also of note is the early childhood education program developed by Millie Mahoney for the Community. Her groundbreaking rural education work contributed to planning for the National Head Start program. The early planning in the 1970’s for an ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION (EE) program was ground-breaking and is well documented by a large body of archival resources.
These are but a few of the delightful surprises to be found in the over 2,300 published pages and images in the PINE MOUNTAIN SETTLEMENT SCHOOL COLLECTIONS.
The Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections offers to the researcher and to our of community families one of the earliest and largest on-site collections of history related to the rural Settlement School Movement in Appalachia. It also affords a digital opportunity to explore a large number of the records of the rural settlement school’s continuing history. The in-situ archive, the physical campus, a Historic Register site, and the unique surrounding Appalachian community, all together, provide an in-depth record of the evolving importance of the rural Settlement Movement and it’s many valuable lessons. The potential contributions to an understanding of rural America and the ethos of life in a particular corner of rural America also shine through this body of work.
The record of Pine Mountain Settlement School as it worked and works to integrate the expanding demands of the urban beyond, reveals remarkable ways to bring urban and rural together. The exploratory range of amazing programs and communities of interest contained in these archival records carries valuable lessons for us all. We are all in this together. We are pleased to offer this record to the communities that built the archive and to offer it to those communities that can learn from its many lessons. We support the pride shown by the population of the Pine Mountain valley and surrounding territories. In this remarkable geography, diverse humanity, and learning place, there are lessons for us all. Today’s struggle to find a way to grapple with rapid change seen in all our communities of interest will welcome the lessons of the sustainable and slow and careful pace of Pine Mountain Settlement. This is a long record of sincere effort to grow a place and to search out the best in community living. The archive offers many lessons, good and not so good, that educate us in community living and history throughout the United States — indeed, the world. Those who live and who have lived, or who have passed through this Appalachian community, have much to offer a broader audience. The sense of community, the practical wisdom, the smart sustainability, the sharing, the religious devotion, and more may be found in the long and unique, and exemplary archival institutional record of Pine Mountain Settlement School.
The Pine Mountain Settlement School archival mission supports and draws from the institutional Pine Mountain Settlement School Mission Statement. The School operates under the watchful eye of representative Trustees, many from the regional Berea College. The Pine Mountain Settlement School Board of Trustees, along with the School’s Director, guides the institution’s strategic planning goals. This is a model that has persisted with only a few adjustments since the founding of the institution in 1913. The President of Berea College has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 1949.
The Pine Mountain Settlement School’s MISSION remains true to its long 112-year history and is focused on educational and social enrichment programs that draw on the local community but serve the broader Appalachian region and beyond. Once a boarding school with a progressive curriculum, Pine Mountain Settlement School’s recent educational programming has moved from a residential educational model to multi-faceted offerings of short-term environmental, cultural, medical, social, agricultural, arts and crafts, and other workshops and programs for all ages and interests. For the duration of its existence, the archive has not moved away from, nor will it move away from, a commitment to Pine Mountain as place and people. more …
035-Copy. Aerial view of PMSS campus, 1941. [garner_035-Copy]
OUR ARCHIVAL VISION
The Vision of the Pine Mountain Settlement School’s digital Archive is to create and provide a voice that will encourage and facilitate transformations in individual relationships of people and place within the broader culture of the Appalachian region and beyond. By providing easy access to a unique and extensive body of archival material about the region and its people, the Pine Mountain Settlement School offers an opportunity for an in-depth exploration of one of the earliest rural settlement schools within the region. As expressed and acknowledged in the Kentucky Educational Television program, The Rural Settlement School Movement, the essence of the Kentucky rural settlement movement was prescient and unique.
The transformation of the people of Eastern Kentucky and the Southern Appalachians is a dynamic and continuously unfolding story. It is a story that has sometimes been misrepresented, described by violence, and romanticized, but is only partially understood and described. By providing full-text documents and photographs in this digital archive, we envision a deep, vibrant, and vital resource that will encourage further exploration. It is also a collaborative dialogue about the hidden and sometimes contested history of Appalachia and the rural settlement school and its integral contributions to the Appalachian milieu and to the broader United States. We envision a digital dissemination of educational research materials across all public, private, and federal sectors interested in Appalachian cultures and lives. more …
SETTLEMENT INSTITUTIONS OF APPALACHIA
The on-site and digital collections at Pine Mountain are complemented by the Settlement Institutions of Appalachia (SIA) materials held by the Berea College Archive, Berea, KY. The SIA selective microform collection of the early Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections covers the years of 1913 to 1983. The Berea microform collection duplicates many materials found in this Pine Mountain Settlement School Collection, but is only a fraction of the onsite PMSS holdings. (Search Loren Kramer for additional information.) If deep research is desired, scholars would be advised to schedule an on-site visit to gain access to the full PMSS archival collections. Full access includes the physical facilities that may be enjoyed by a visit to the School and a walk about campus, and by the documentation included in the National Register of Historic Buildings.
Since 1949, Berea Presidents and faculty have served on the Pine Mountain Settlement School Board of Trustees as trusted advisors. Recently, the School reached out to the Berea College Special Collections and Archives to initiate a collaborative process to integrate the Pine Mountain and the Berea SIA microform archival materials in a more coordinated and accessible manner to interested users. Efforts are ongoing. Visit the Berea College Special Collections for more information.
NOTES
notes_2023_fall_001
“NOTES” is an essential tool for tracing the history of the Pine Mountain Settlement School and for understanding the Archive. Each year, the School sends mailings to our interested communities and friends. “NOTES” presents a bi-annual overview of events at the School. We are close to providing full copies of the Pine Mountain Settlement School NOTES online. Want to follow along and learn about the institutional history through its annual reports? NOTES 1919 was the first issue produced by the School. See: NOTES Index. Subscribe: (606) 558-3571
What were some other top posts this month? What else are we working on?
DEAR FRIEND LETTERS Index
Similar to NOTES, the DEAR FRIEND LETTERS (1911- present) are written by the Pine Mountain School Directors and mailed to friends of Pine Mountain. They carry a chatty report of the activities and highlights at the school and community. The DEAR FRIEND LETTERS often contain as much information about the writer as about the School and region. The 1-2 page letters abound with historical information about the School, the Community, and individuals. They are important to anyone interested in learning more about PMSS, the Directors, families, Harlan County, KY., and life in Appalachia. The NOTES and the DEAR FRIEND LETTERS are excellent starting places for researchers wishing to get a sense of the School’s history across time and a sense of the ebb and flow of life in the Central Appalachians.
FULL INDEX TO COLLECTIONS
GOOGLE search box
STILL NOT FINDING WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR? Alternatively, you can utilize the GOOGLE search box [above] to look up specific topics. Also, the use of an enhanced AI search engine for locating PMSS materials will quickly lead to related information throughout the expanding Web tools.
REQUESTING PERMISSION FOR THE USE OF MATERIALS IN THE COLLECTION
Work with the materials in the Pine Mountain Settlement School’s physical collections is ongoing, and new material is frequently added as it is scanned. Any for-profit use of archival material requires permission from the Pine Mountain Settlement School. If visiting in person, research scholars will need to arrange for their visit before arrival at the School [(606) 558-3571]. Appropriate citation of the research material is requested. See the following USE AGREEMENTS, citation guidelines, and details for USE and for requesting permissions.
If you wish to DONATE material, please see our DONOR AGREEMENT AND DEEDS OF GIFT or contact the School directly (606) 558-3571.
COLLECTION USE AGREEMENTS AND ACCESS GUIDELINES
PUBLIC USE OF MATERIAL FROM THIS ARCHIVE (Non-Commercial)
COMMERCIAL USE OF MATERIAL FROM THIS ARCHIVE
ORAL HISTORY RELEASE AGREEMENT
ORAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION – PRINCIPLES AND BEST PRACTICES
CITATION OF MATERIALS:
Any PUBLIC use of material must properly cite Pine Mountain Settlement School. Suggested: “[Identification of Item],” [Collection Name] [Series Number, if applicable]. [date], Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. [date accessed]
COLLECTION DONATIONS
If you have material related to Pine Mountain Settlement School and wish to donate the materials to the school, please get in touch with our office to discuss your donation and the DONOR AGREEMENT. We are, of course, always delighted to accept monetary donations in support of the collections.
office@pinemountainsettlementschool.com or (606) 558-3571
UPCOMING EVENTS AND WORKSHOPS AT
PINE MOUNTAIN SETTLEMENT SCHOOL
VISITING OR STAYING AT PINE MOUNTAIN?
To learn more about the School’s current workshops, community interaction, annual events, and over-night stays, go to PINE MOUNTAIN SETTLEMENT SCHOOL Main Page where you will find information about visiting the campus, lodgings, current programs, and donating to the School.
Chapel. View of the South flank and East entry. Spring 2012. [2012-03-23-05.47.00.jpg]
RECENT ARCHIVAL ADDITIONS
HISTORIES PMSS 1899 A Novel Excursion by Maria McVay
This early and important record, “A Novel Excursion” 1899, is a glimpse into a very early history of rural settlement institutions. The excursion from Berea to eastern Kentucky, recorded by McVay and led by Henry Mixter enniman, sparked the development of both Hindman Settlement School and Pine Mountain Settlement School. This early recorded journey of Katherine Pettit and her interesting traveling companions sheds light on Pettit’s circle of influence and the growing contemporary interest and rationale in the creation of rural settlement schools. In 1902 Pettit and May Stone founded the Knott County Hindman Settlement School, and in 1913 Pettit founded Pine Mountain Settlement School. Maria McVay, a budding reporter, recorded the 1899 excursion for a Cincinnati newspaper, which reveals the traveling companions of Pettit and the details of the journey that expanded the establishment of rural settlement institutions. The traveling companions were diverse. Ellen Churchill Semple, for one, was a well-known international geographer. In 1901 she published one of the most debated and interesting studies of Appalachia: “The Anglo Saxons of the Kentucky Mountains: A Study in Anthropogeography.”[LC copy]Explore Pettit, Semple, and the other travellers and their contributions to the history of Appalachia.
GRACE M. ROOD – STORIES of “AMAZING GRACE”
The stories of Grace M. Rood describe the working life of a nurse at Pine Mountain Settlement School in the 1930s and 40s. The “Amazing Grace” GRACE M. ROOD entertains, vents, and reflects in these stories about her years of adventure serving the Kentucky rural communities and the PMSS School. As an early graduate of the Johns Hopkins nurse-training program, she first served as a nurse in rural India where she learned to be self-sufficient. Her early training was well suited to the many challenges she faced in her long career in the Appalachian mountains. She is a legend and the stories of her life are truly AMAZING.
LETTERS To a Sweetheart A fitting selection for February, this is a very large, and lively correspondence of Olive Coolidge, a Pine Mountain Settlement School worker and her sweetheart, Robert Butman, in the early years of WWII. A descendant of the COOLIDGE FAMILY, Olive was not silent like her famous Presidential relative Calvin. Olive and Robert capture the delight of first love and the tensions of the rural work at the School and the world of young lovers negotiating WWII in two very different environments. This very large collection of letters and photographs was recently donated in digital form by Marcia Butman, the grandniece of Olive Coolidge and a relative of Presidents Calvin Coolidge and, distantly, Thomas Jefferson.
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WHAT’S NEW Latest Digital Additions – Lists of pages that have been recently updated or newly published on the PINE MOUNTAIN SETTLEMENT SCHOOL COLLECTIONS website.
For pages that have been updated or newly published in former months and years, go to:
ARCHIVE 2020-2021 Past Digital Additions
ARCHIVE 2022 Past Digital Additions
ARCHIVE 2023 Past Digital Additions
ARCHIVE 2024 Past Digital Additions
ARCHIVE 2025 Past Digital Additions
FORMER WHAT’S NEW – Archive of earlier posts and promotional descriptions of pages, 2015-2021.
COMMENTS and CONTACT
Comments and feedback are not enabled directly on the website. Users may contact the editors through the Pine Mountain Settlement School Office.
office@pinemountainsettlementschool.com or (606) 558-3571.
We welcome your identification of people and activities on our site and, particularly, corrections to the record. Further, we always welcome the addition of materials relevant to the history of the School and the region.
ABOUT OCR TEXT
Some of the texts included in this site have been automatically generated using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. In some cases, these texts have not been manually reviewed or corrected. OCR enables the searching of large quantities of full-text data, but it is not 100% accurate. The level of accuracy depends on the print quality of the original publication and its condition at the time of creation. Publications with poor-quality paper, small print, mixed fonts, multiple-column layouts, or damaged pages may have poor OCR accuracy.
STATEMENT REGARDING PRIVACY
Please read OUR PRIVACY POLICY and contact the PMSS office if you believe we have violated your rights to privacy in our online archival resources.
The manuscript collections and archival records in the Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections may contain sensitive and/or confidential information derived from historical archives that may be protected under federal and state right-to-privacy laws and regulations. Researchers who wish to publish and users who may share material from the Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections are advised by this notice that the disclosure of certain information about identifiable living individuals represented in some collections within the Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g. may be a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy if facts concerning an individual’s private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person for which Pine Mountain Settlement School assumes no responsibility.
